have your cake and eat it

I know I have been quiet for awhile but to be honest I have not had a lot to report. Life has fallen back into the same familiar routine that I was following before IMLP. Get up go to work (sometimes train at lunch), come home, train, eat, go to bed, repeat. The weekends are a long ride Saturday and a triathlon brick on a Sunday.

At least I am not alone in my training. I have mentioned Chris from time to time in my blog and his reward for finishing first in his age group (60-64) and setting a new course record at Lake Placid is to continue to give up all his free time in preparation for the World Championships in Hawaii. Most of the team are now able to kick back and focus on shorter course racing for the rest of the season whereas Chris and I are still looking for opportunities to go riding for hours and hours on end.

It works out well for us as I am slightly quicker on the bike he can sit in my draft and still get in a good zone 2 workout and I get the benefit of having someone older and emenintly more sensible making sure that I actually turn up for the long workouts.

Generally things are going pretty well as I approach the last couple of weeks before Ironman UK. Last week I was able to exercise for the first time without any pain and I think I can finally assume that I have recovered from my bike accident. I also got to pick up my new ride last week, a week later than expected but worth the wait.

Here she is in all her glory. The saddle is a loaner from Conte's as the BH importer did not send the Scratch TR saddle I ordered and I am waiting for them to put that right. I took her out last Saturday for what was supposed to be a long ride but unfortunately I didn't have a great ride and had to cut it a bit short. It was however my birthday and Chris surprised me with a birthday cake so we ended up substituting another 1.5 hours on the bike for cake.

To clear up any confusion I have not signed for the Pro Cycling Team AG2R the kit came free with the bike

Sunday was the first day that I finally got to do the full Tri brick, i.e. swim bike run and it felt pretty good. I am hoping that a few of these will really help me when it comes to race day and that all important bike to run transition.

I did finally put the BH through her paces last night when for the last hour of my 2.5 hour ride, Chris and I linked up with the A group at the weekly Conte's ride (every Tuesday at 6.30pm). There were an impressive number of riders there covering the full gambit of abilities and experience. You may remember that I was tagging along on the Wakefield A Group ride but I haven't done that ride for a couple of months and it was a shock to the system last night to be dragged kicking and screaming from my comfort zone.

The last thing you want on one of these group rides is to be dropped so you move heaven and earth to stay on the pace. This particular ride was very hilly and the first few steep climbs really took their toll. My heart rate maxed out and stayed there for quite a long time, it was hot and I started to develop a headache and if I had kept going I was going to start cramping badly. People were getting dropped but I just, by the skin of my teeth, held on to the top of the hill with the leaders and then managed to recover enough to make the next brutal climb. As with most of these group rides even the leaders are suffering and after the initial onslaught the pace on the hills slowed significantly.

In the end I was pleased with the ride but I was disappointed that one of the guys in the ride was also riding a BH G4. He turned out to be a nice bloke but I guess even if there are only a few dealers in the US if you go back to the store where you bought the bike you run the risk of bumping into someone on the same machine - bubble certainly not burst but maybe a little bit deflated.